Why Do So Many Pros Drop Their Elbows?

L

LastTwo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nearly every instructional book, magazine, video, and website I have ever seen all say the same thing: DO NOT DROP YOUR ELBOW. Why is it that 90% of all male pros drop their elbows then? I don't mean that they drop their elbows all the way down, they all drop them about 5-10 inches. I have been paying close attention, watching some videos in slow-motion, and they all seem to drop their elbows simultaneously as they make contact with the CB. Is there some hidden secret of benefits you can get from dropping your elbow? If so, why do so many instructors say to keep your elbow still on every shot?

*The reason I said male pros is because most female pros seem to keep their elbows still, from what I've seen.
 
more than 90% drop their elbows,,,,,, almost all, in fact. and it's the only way they keep their stroke level. and beginners are probably taught to lock their elbows because it's the only way to keep their stroke from getting out of control. the REAL point is,,,,keep your arm movement to a minimum.
 
On Rempe/Lori Jon's video, Jim shows dropping the elbow.
On Phil Capelle's Play Your Best Pool, he advocates dropping the elbow.
Strickland drops his elbow. So does Parica and Davenport.
I say, you either drop it or throw the cue.
 
I would really like to hear from some of the"Big Time" instructors comment on this. It is a great question!!!!
Don
 
It hard to put in perspective as I currently sit behind a desk (plus I never look at my elbow when playing), but I think dropping your elbow is useful on some kill shots.
 
This would be a great question to pose to Keith McCready in the "Ask the Pros" section. He is very responsive so you may want to give it a shot.

Dave
 
what do you mean by dropping your elbow?

i dont get the picture...:D

ive been pocketing like hell these past few days, being able to run 6-8 balls, and i was thinking i might have mastered the discipline of stroke...

i know im not doing anything wrong, and when i miss, its mainly because i ended up in awkward position, like the cb being frozen in the rail, while the ob is frozen to the adjacent rail more than half of the table distance between them...talk about hard times...:D

but what is this elbow dropping thing? :)
 
this Q seems to be a main topic of discussion on a couple of pool boards.

watch an embassy snooker tape because the camera angle is low and in front of the player(hendry vs. o'sullivan is a good one). watch his elbow when he shoots. or watch an orttman tape,,,his is very noticable.
 
Cardinal_Syn said:
i don't get it...watchu mean by dropping the elbow?
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it's kinda like you know how your drawers drop when you drop your drawers,,,,,,,,like that only not as pronounced. it's NOT,,, like "drop a load", which is a totally different kind of "drop". :)
 
Why pros drop it so often? Probably because they have learned to play that way and it is natural on power shots which come up often at pool, especially 9ball. Even the snooker guys drop it when they need power. Not sure about 3C players...
 
I was hanging out with Mika. He taught me to drop my elbow at the end of the hit. I believe that droping your elbow keeps the cue level at the end of the hit(stay down).I think most times the drop of the elbow comes into play on long shots across the table to direct them there with a level cue. I suppose Mika is a pretty reliable source to listen to. Better than alot of the people on this board.
Peace
 
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Donald A. Purdy said:
I would really like to hear from some of the"Big Time" instructors comment on this. It is a great question!!!!
Don
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Don the bozo's that go around teaching this crap just make my job harder. Students read this or take lessons learning this stuff and later I end up with them and then try and explain to them they paid for faulty advice. The poor guy then does not know who to believe.

If you want to hit power strokes, follows, draws, the elbow drops. Don't even think about the elbow, think about the shot.
Too much thinking develops paralysis by analysis. That is one of the first things I must re teach, yes, you have permission to drop your elbow. Then I have to reteach the draw and erase all of that bad crap out, then the follow. There is so much bad advice running around out there it is a wonder any one can run 3 friggen balls. :D
 
Here is what I have figured out - When your tip is at the cueball, your forearm (for most players) should be at a 90 degree angle pointed at the floor. It is also at this point when you execute that your cue is most level. The natural motion of the stroke without dropping your elbow on the follow thru is a wave motion. On the backstroke, the back end of your cue goes upwards, when your tip is at the cueball your cuestick is at it's most level point. After you contact the cueball, your tip will dive downwards if your elbow is not moving. What I see in slow motion replays, is most pros drop their elbows simultaneously or right before they contact the cueball, and when they are at the end of their follow thru, their cues are almost perfectly level. I am not so sure that the purpose of doing this is to keep the cue level, since if it is level at the point of contact of the CB and cuetip, keeping it level afterwards serves no purpose. Recently a local housepro was giving a lesson, and I overheard him talking about how it was necessary to drop your elbow to execute a certain draw shot, in which the object ball is close to in the jaws of a corner pocket, with the cueball on the first diamond at the other side of the table. In order to forcedraw the cueball all the way back, he said that it is impossible to do so without dropping your elbow. I tried it, and after a few tries it worked, I certainly was able to juice the cueball up alot more than I would keeping my elbow still. My hypothesis is that slightly dropping your elbow allows you to apply more "stroke" to the cueball with less effort than keeping your elbow still.
 
Quote UnQuote,

"I see in slow motion replays, is most pros drop their elbows simultaneously or right before they contact the cueball, and when they are at the end of their follow thru, their cues are almost perfectly level. I am not so sure that the purpose of doing this is to keep the cue level, since if it is level at the point of contact of the CB and cuetip, keeping it level afterwards serves no purpose."

The purpose of level cue follow through, is to flatten the ball path lines. I believe the player to be transferring mental energy into the follow through. This completes the visual/kinetic path of the balls. To me follow through force creates position via the transfer of energy from the follow. When a player holds at the end of the cue I feel It is more possible to have a level cue at the end of the swing by dropping the elbow, and manipulating the wrist to create level stroke at the butt end of the cue during the apex. I notice the more I drop elbow, the more cue hangs out the end of the bridge for follow through. There is something to it. Look at all sports follow through is critical to any player baseball swing, golf swing,football QB, everything is similar, a system.
I believe draw is not quite as level a follow through, it is level enough at the apex. Droping the elbow some will create long draw capabilities to your arsenal hit speed comes into play too. I believe to hit at basicaly above felt level for draw I do have to jump up sometimes so as not to interfere with the draw path of cueball on short draw. I create forced side draw, 5oclock, and 7oclock cueball english by
elbow drop sometimes. I keep in mind each shot has a completely different stance, hit, followthrough, and speed. It requires a fresh aproach to each shot. I also try to get alot of oxygen to my brain while I am shooting for obvious reasons.

As far as these BBS systems, It all is a matter of opinion for us, so if your opinion is saying, I know everything, and no one here has anything to teach but me, so be it. That style of thinking is outdated. I believe we are all students all the time. I respect everyones opinions. History shows the new school of thinking will always replace the old. We as a society should always respect historical figures, and thought systems, I just keep a open mind.
 
the scoop stroke uses the dropping of the elbow in order to drae a mud ball on a bar box,,,,,,,,,,,,,lost ya yet ?
 
billfishhead said:
the scoop stroke uses the dropping of the elbow in order to drae a mud ball on a bar box,,,,,,,,,,,,,lost ya yet ?
Click to expand...
Ahahahahahahaaahaaaa!!!!!:D
You have to get some follow on potato sack cloth with 3-inch cueballs.
 
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